Rob Lucas In The Morning

Daylight Savings Time Begins Sunday. How Long WIll You Be Cranky?

Daylight saving time begins Sunday. A new survey reveals that the average person needs 3.5 days to adjust to daylight saving time. Other findings:

- 82% of people feel tired, groggy and irritable while adjusting to the time change

- 50% of people need eight or more hours of sleep per night to feel well rested

- 20% of people are sleeping on a mattress that is nine years or older

The Monday after we spring ahead for Daylight Saving Time is the worst Monday of the year for accidents. Observing Daylight Saving Time year-round would prevent 195 motor vehicle deaths and 171 pedestrian fatalities. Arizona, Hawaii, American Samoa, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands don't observe daylight saving time.

University of Alabama at Birmingham Professor Martin Young says, "The Monday and Tuesday after moving the clocks ahead one hour in March is associated with a 10 percent increase in the risk of having a heart attack. The opposite is true when falling back in October. This risk decreases by about 10 percent. Exactly why this happens is not known but there are several theories. Sleep deprivation, the body's circadian clock and immune responses all can come into play when considering reasons that changing the time by an hour can be detrimental to someone's health."

Wake up 30 minutes earlier on Saturday and Sunday than you need to in preparation for the early start on Monday Eat a decent-sized breakfast Go outside in the sunlight in the early morning Exercise in the mornings over the weekend (as long as you do not have pre-existing heart disease) Doing all of this will help reset both the central, or master, clock in the brain that reacts to changes in light/dark cycles, and the peripheral clocks -- the ones everywhere else including the one in the heart -- that react to food intake and physical activity. This will enable your body to naturally synch with the change in the environment, which may lessen your chance of adverse health issues on Monday."